WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
The poet wrote, "Two men looked out through prison bars: one saw mud; the other saw stars." Commenting on this, Father John Powell once wrote:
"In the pursuit of the fullness of human life, everything depends on this frame of reference, this habitual outlook, this basic vision which I have of myself, others, life, the world, and God. What we see is what we get."
Don't you find that to be true? There's a lot about our world that isn't the way we would want it to be: cruelty, hatred, injustice, jealousy, deceit, evil.... It's what theologians call "the problem of evil." "How can a loving, merciful, and just God," they ask, "allow such things to exist?" I don't know anyone who has ever arrived at a satisfactory answer to that question. And if we focus only on what's wrong, disillusionment and despair are almost inevitable. But those same theologians point out that "the problem of good" is equally puzzling. If human nature is flawed, and our tendency is toward evil, how is there so much that is good? ...But how many people ever ask such a question? Maybe it's because, despite our seeming skepticism and suspicion, most of us really do expect more out of life.
Remember the old question of whether the glass is half empty or half full? Both answers are correct. The choice of perspective is ours. We can either "complain that rose bushes have thorns or rejoice that some thorn bushes produce roses." Noted pastor and author Charles Swindoll comments:
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. I t is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. I will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way, We cannot change the inevitable. I am convinced that life is ten percent what happens to me and ninety percent how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes."
Perhaps that's why the Apostle Paul once advised, "...Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things." (Philippians 4:8) Paul knew what it meant to be rejected, ridiculed, even reviled and persecuted. But he chose not to "live" there. It was a matter of focus. As another author (unknown to me) phrased it: "Life can't give me joy and peace; it's up to me to will it. Life just gives me time and space; it's up to me to fill it." If you accept the Bible's message, it not even a matter of creating those conditions, just a willingness to accept what God is already waiting to provide -- even in the middle of an imperfect world.
Be careful where you focus your attention today. "What you see is what you get."
CAPT J. David Atwater, CHC, USN
